Italy’s competition regulator, Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), imposed a €1 million fine on fast fashion company Shein on Monday for publishing misleading environmental claims related to the amount of pollution the company produces.

The AGCM investigation found that Shein made false claims about the recyclability of its clothing and that there was no evidence to back up Shein’s claim that its use of “green” fibers and other “sustainable” materials in certain clothing lines offered any “substantial environmental benefit.” In addition, the AGCM concluded that Shein’s claimed goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2050 was misleading given the increase in emissions that the company produced from 2023-24 and the lack of a concrete plan as to how the company sought to achieve this goal.

Shein said that it is working “to ensure that all environmental claims are clear, verifiable, and compliant with regulations” in a reported statement.

Under EU Directive 2005/29/EC, national governments of the EU are responsible for regulating and fining companies that partake in misleading commercial practices, including environmental claims that that imply to consumers that a company is more environmentally friendly than it actually is.

In July, Shein was fined €40 million by French authorities for misleading commercial practices that included fake discounts and misleading environmental claims. Article 13 of Directive 2005/29/EC requires that member states enforce “effective, proportionate and dissuasive” penalties for misleading commercial practices within the scope of the directive. Given the relatively wide scope for enforcement allowed by the directive’s lack of specificity, fines can vary widely between member-states of the EU.

The AGCM launched its investigation into Shein in September. Since Shein operates online stores across the EU, it is possible that other countries could impose fines on the company if similar environmental claims were shared elsewhere in the EU.